Historically, the autumn festival Halloween can be traced back more than 2,000 years to the Celts who occupied what is presently Great Britain, Ireland, and northern France. The Celts and their descendants carved out turnips, beets, or potatoes to use as lanterns, or jack-o'-lanterns, on Halloween. These vegetables were replaced by the native pumpkin in the United States.
For Halloween, children typically carve out pumpkins to reflect the appearance of a face. A candle may be fixed inside to illuminate the carved-out pumpkin. Pumpkin-sized flashlights instead of candles now frequently are placed inside of pumpkins for safety purposes.